OPINION: What will stop death on the highways?

Thursday

Jun 24, 2010 at 12:01 AMJun 24, 2010 at 4:28 AM

Thirty-one state troopers have been killed in the line of duty in the last 100 years, the 31st being Sgt. Douglas Weddleton, who was buried in Brockton Wednesday as his widow, four sons and hundreds of fellow police officers looked on.

Thirty-one state troopers have been killed in the line of duty in the last 100 years, the 31st being Sgt. Douglas Weddleton, who was buried in Brockton Wednesday as his widow, four sons and hundreds of fellow police officers looked on.

Weddleton’s last state police car – coincidentally with the number 1031 – sat empty in front of the church Tuesday as the endless line of blue passed by his casket on a hot, sunny day. Everyone we talked to remembered Weddleton as a first-class police officer and ballistics expert – but most of all, a wonderful family man devoted to his wife and boys.

That family man and state trooper was taken from us last week when a man charged with being a drunken driver rammed into another car and dragged Weddleton across three lanes as the trooper worked a road detail in Mansfield early Friday morning.

Almost every police officer we spoke to in the last week not only had fond memories of Weddleton, but they talked of the close calls that all of them have faced over the years. It revealed a pattern of drunken driving that, despite stronger laws and stiffer penalties, continues unabated.

“It’s a job with a million close calls,” said Mansfield Police Chief Arthur O’Neill as he waited near the head of the line at Tuesday’s wake.

Most police officers are able to brush off the close calls, but we have reported too often on calls that were not close, of police officers struck and sometimes killed on the road. Alcohol is often in the mix.

The man charged with drunken driving and motor vehicle homicide in Weddleton’s death has a long record of driving offenses and has had his license suspended. It didn’t stop him from drinking and driving and killing a police officer, state police said.

This may show a need for even stricter laws, increased roadblocks, more ignition barriers for chronic offenders or revisiting sentencing guidelines.

There is no guarantee that any law will be a deterrent, but we have to do something to take drunk drivers off the road. If they’re in prison, they can’t cause a crash that ends with a widow and four fatherless sons.

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